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> Research has shown other policies that would help: programs to help women re-enter the labor force; flexibility in when and where work gets done; subsidized c
by zeveb 9y ago
> Research has shown other policies that would help: programs to help women re-enter the labor force; flexibility in when and where work gets done; subsidized child care.
I'm not certain what a 'programme to help women re-enter the labor force' would look like, so I won't comment on that.
Flexibility is awesome, and in many jobs (particularly our own) it's possible. But in many other jobs (the majority, perhaps?) it's impossible, or has extreme costs.
I believe that over time we'll find that children raised by strangers will have various physical & psychological issues compared to those raised by their own families; while it's necessary in some cases I don't think that we want to encourage it as a society.
- IAmEveryone 9y agoThere are multiple definitions of flexibility: the ability to quickly change one's schedule, the ability to to continuously work a non-standard schedule, and the possibility to easily work part-time (and return to full time). All three are useful for parents of young children. And, interestingly enough, the first tends to be anti-correlate to the latter two among professions. Consider jobs where it's hard to reschedule work at the last minute: pilot, surgeon, lawyer, cop, cashier (at smaller stores), etc: all these jobs tend to allow people to choose schedules other than 9-5 rather easily. In any case: I think these are all solvable problems, and the old saying that if men where responsible for childcare, we'd have more day cares than Starbucks and mandated home office policies for every company comes to mind. Your last point of parent's being the only ones capable of raising a child is idle conjecture not supported by any research. And in any case, it would still allow to distribute child care more equally among both parents. Flexible schedules
- harryh 9y agoI believe that over time we'll find that children raised by stranger... This has been studied. There is very little evidence for your hypothesis.
- tomp 9y agoDo you have any links to any more extensive explanation?
- harryh 9y agoThe work of Judith Harris is a good place to start.
- burfog 9y agoIt is been studied: communes in Israel, child care in Russia, orphanages in Romania... it turns out that you can't usefully pay people to love children. Mothers will do things for children that paid workers will not do. If that could work, then the children would love their paid caregivers, and the family ceases to exist. Human relationships require time, and this time can not be scheduled. One must be there for the bruises and scratches.
- astura 9y agoI mean, it should be pretty obvious that isn't the case, as the person you form the strongest bond with in your life is an unrelated "stranger." That would be your spouse, of course.